The Huntly Carter Collection provides a rich visual
resource on Soviet avant-garde architecture and theatre in the
1920s-30s. It is of interest to researchers, theatre practitioners
and publishers.
Huntly Carter was a theatre critic, author and lecturer on Russian
theatre who travelled extensively in the Soviet Union between
1921-38. He was particularly interested in the new Russian theatre
that developed after the Revolution and was struck by its vitality,
humanity and civilising force. His views on Russian-Soviet theatre
are expressed in works such as The New Spirit in the Russian
Theatre 1917-28, published in 1929.
On his travels in the Soviet Union in the 1920s-30s Huntly Carter
met all the leading theatre directors, actors and designers of
the day, including Meyerhold, Mayakovsky, Stanislavsky, Exter,
Rodchenko, Eisenstein and Mikhoels. He wrote of these encounters
in his books and also gathered together a remarkable collection
of photographs of original productions, set and costume designs.
The collection also holds photographs of early Soviet architecture,
including images of a number of iconic buildings of the period.
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